Mama Chop Chop has faithfully gone to the neighborhood clinic every Friday for years. This is not your average clinic that you would see in America. This is more of a neighborhood hospital only it does not have the facility or the resources of a hospital…so it is called a clinic. It is busting at the seams.
We walked through town, out of the nicer part of Khayelitsha where we were living and into the more run down parts. Through the main drag where every taxi in the city stops and waits…beeping their horns for customers coming off of the train. Passing shacks and outdoor camp fires, homeless people lying on the street…under the bridge where many of them call “home” and finally arriving at the clinic. Read the rest of this entry »
After driving through the town of Khayelitsha for the first time…spotting drug dealers, witch doctors, unsupervised children, and the like…I was sold. “I love this place! This is exactly where Jesus would be!” Safe? Not exactly. Secure? Absolutely!
We drove around the corner, through a large steel gate and parked in a big open field. In front of us was a large, white, tent…plastic windows and a door that flapped open and shut with the wind.
To the left were two out house type toilets only they were made with steel…the doors blowing open and slamming shut with the wind (you really had to be careful…if you got too close at the wrong time you could get slammed by the door! This made for an interesting experience while using the facilities! Any time our kids used the toilet it was with the door open…much safer!!!) Outside the toilets was a sink for washing. Read the rest of this entry »
Kids on outreach. “Hmmm…how does that work?” That was my big question. “It will be great!” “They’ll just come along and do everything you do!” “Don’t worry about a thing…” I left Perth assured that it would be fine…the kids would adapt, no big deal.
Ha!
I have to give major credit to my kids here because they did adapt…and they did amazing! There are some great stories to share along the way…
My first real “experience” with the kids on outreach started about one day in. We got our room set up in the church basement in Parow…bunk beds pushed together, saw dust from the construction brushed off the beds, sleeping bags rolled out…suitcases situated nicely against the walls, shoes placed in a row…a chair with all of our secret snacks placed under it, bathroom stuff sitting in a bag on the chair…everything organized and in it’s “place.” Time to go! Read the rest of this entry »
I am in trouble. As I think back on the last 4 months…there are just no words. I don’t know where to begin. Procrastination. I am avoiding the mountain of putting my thoughts (and heart) on paper. My life will never be the same…where do I begin…
OK, an overview…some highlights…then more to come.
The Drive.
The drive from the airport to the hills of Worcester took two hours. The kids slept so I looked out the window the whole time. I was overwhelmed by what I saw. Miles and miles of little, tiny shacks…rows of them. They were separated into their own little neighborhoods or “townships” one after another after another. I had never seen anything like it. I’d heard about the poverty in South Africa, but to view it with my own eyes was a different story. Little did I know at the time that I would fall in the love with the people inside those little shack houses. I had always thought that I’d set foot on African soil and cry…mainly because it was such a dream of mine. I thought that once it was fulfilled I’d be an emotional mess. Yet I just sat there, looking out the window. Not sure if I should cry because I was so excited to have this dream fulfilled, or if I should cry over what I was looking at. Instead I just sat and soaked it all in. Read the rest of this entry »
